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Monthly Archives: March 2014

Here is a pretty interesting find and something that I’ve been itching to share. I always find theme park history to be quite interesting as they usually are ever-changing with something being added just about every year. Park maps and other souvenirs act somewhat as preservers of those times and what I have for this Throwback Thursday is especially that.

1980 was a year that brought two new attractions to Hersheypark: Pirat(e) and Cyclops as well as the Sooperdooperlooper celebrating it’s third birthday. The park only had three roller coasters in all, went no farther back than the Dry Gulch Railroad (which only was half the size of what it was today), and featured a petting zoo on top of ZooAmerica, which has already been open for two years since this time. This map doesn’t go into great detail on every single attraction, building, or ride, but it kind of gave the guest the idea of the layout.

Some of the Guest Information policies haven’t changed much over the years; just with more being added on due to the change of times.

Old advertisements like these are always interesting to read years later. A $1,000 scholarship back then probably would take a big chunk out of college tuition. Today, it barely does much. As for encyclopedias, they are slowly becoming the way of the dinosaurs (if not already!).

Quite a few resident shows happening back in 1980. Sea lions AND Dolphins called the Aquatheatre home back then. Dolphins ceased being used in the early to mid. 2000s. Dance, Dance, Dance was a show that was a tradition and continued on for quite a bit. The Hound Dog Jamboree was show that featured animatronic dogs playing some country music. Lastly, the Fest Haus (where Minetown Restaurant is today) seems to have featured some classic Pa Dutch folk-dancing. The park didn’t really seem to have a Summer Concert Series, but the did have a few special shows in May such as the band Pentagon, which is actually scheduled to play at the park on Sunday, May 18th!

By the length of the schedule, the season for the park is much shorter than what it is currently as there is no Springtime, Halloween or Christmas event; Only the summer season from May 10th to September 28th.

A list of five restaurants in the park along with their food specialties is also given. Some of the offerings seem pretty good (especially the Fest Haus and Dutch Restaurant)!

I hope to do more of these Throwback brochures in the future as they are quite interesting to do!

Been awhile since the last update, but to make up for it my friend Matt, who came up from Maryland, and I decided to check out Chocolate World, walk up to ZooAmerica, walk around the rest of the perimeter of the park back to Chocolate World. The warm weather offered a small taste of spring, but we still have a few weeks left in the off-season until the park opens. Here is a summary on what we saw:

Chocolate World:

-Much of the former queue line is torn up, but it looks like the new entrance and exit are starting to come together.

Hersheypark:

– The Ticketing building in Tram Circle is progressing. There are stacks of bricks sitting next to the construction area.

– Tudor Square’s restroom building is still being worked on.

– The older Hollow Games building is gone.

– Coal Cracker’s 2nd lift is the rehab section of the year.

– One of the Monorail’s trains is parked next to the ride’s storage building with a new paint job. No deals are visible on the exterior of the train.

– Parts of the old Six Flags Magic Mountain Metro trains are sitting in the area between Roller Soaker’s station and the fence.

ZooAmerica: (I haven’t been here for a few months so some of the improvements may not be recent, but they are more or less a year new).

– A cottonmouth snake is now on display in the Southern Swamps building.

– The prairie dogs are now out and had to contend to a squirrel trying to eat their food.

– A Black-billed magpie exhibit has been built near the elk and Watering Hole.

– Buddy, the pronghorn, who has arrived at the zoo a few months ago, is located in the former bison enclosure and seems to be pretty sociable.

Walls are starting to go up next to the entrance ramp.

The flooring tiles on the entrance stairs have been ripped up.

As of right now, this room and the space at the top of the stairs to the ride form an L-shape.

The area at the top of the ride stairs now has walls.

There is an opening at the top of the entrance stairs going to the top of the former exit.

Looks like things are progressing nicely. I am betting that the new retail area is in the far background, the possible new entrance ramp from the ride in the center, and the new exit in the foreground.

Nothing really new to see here, moving on.

Naked Intamin Skyrush trains: we need a censor bar on this somewhere.

The Hollow Games building is gone and ready for concrete and the two new rides.

Coal Cracker rehab is progressing nicely.

Here is a close-up of the top of the Kissing Tower.

The tunnel under Park Blvd. is open, but people still seem to want to cross the road instead of using it.

The cottonmouth exhibit.

The bobcats are tuckered out.

Same with the otters.

The prairie dogs are out and have to deal with a visitor.

They aren’t too thrilled with the squirrel.

A black-billed magpie exhibit has shown up near the Elk.

There is Buddy, the pronghorn.

The Monorail is looking bright in it’s new paintjob.

On our walk back to Chocolate World, we walked up Trinidad Ave.

Looks nice and spiffy.

Walking farther down Park Blvd. we could see the former Magic Mountain monorail trains sitting in front of Roller Soaker’s station.

The red and yellow trains were here, but I didn’t see the blue train.

A few sections of Lightning Racer have been re-tracked.

About one more month until it opens for it 14th season (it feels like it didn’t open too long ago!).

About one more month to go until the end of the off-season (hopefully we don’t get anymore snow!).

From the former Hershey Museum patio, it looks like work in Tudor Square is progressing.

Here’s something we discovered walking back to Chocolate World: Did you know that there are a line of one-time-use lockers on the path leading to the Season Pass Office? They cost $2 and only take quarters.

That’s it for the update. I’ll probably do one or two more before the season-opener trip report. As for the website, I am making some good progress on constructing it as I am already up to approximately 20 photo galleries for parks such as Hersheypark, Knoebels, and Dorney Park with more to come. The Skyrush construction updates will not be included at this point, but don’t worry, I have something special planned for them!